After the cancellation of the second presidential debate, President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have officially lined up competing town hall events instead.
NBC on Wednesday announced it has scheduled a town hall with Trump that will take place on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. ET. That's the night Trump was previously scheduled to face off against Biden again in the second presidential debate, but the debate was scrapped after the Commission on Presidential Debates announced it would take place virtually due to COVID-19 concerns and Trump subsequently refused to participate.
Biden had previously scheduled a town hall with ABC on Thursday night after Trump announced he did not intend to participate in the debate, meaning both candidates will be on separate networks holding town hall events at the same time. NBC News said the town hall with Trump will be moderated by Savannah Guthrie, and it will be held outdoors at the Perez Art Museum Miami with a socially-distanced audience; attendees will be required to wear face masks and have their temperature checked.
The network also said it received a statement from National Institute of Health Clinical Director Dr. Clifford Lane "indicating that he and Dr. Anthony Fauci have reviewed the president's recent medical data" and concluded "with a high degree of confidence" that he is "not shedding infectious virus," although The New York Times notes that "the network did not explicitly say that Mr. Trump had received a negative result." Trump's physician, Dr. Sean Conley, earlier this week said that the president had tested negative for COVID-19 "on consecutive days" after he was hospitalized with the coronavirus earlier this month.
The next presidential debate, which is set to be the last one prior to the election, is scheduled for Oct. 22.